God is Known

Discipleship Classes

We have 5 core values here at Reliant:

Bible Believers

Disciple Makers

God Pleasers

Community Engagers

Kingdom Builders

The second one in the list is “Disciple Makers: Investing the Gospel in faithful people that will invest its power in others.”

This semester we will be offering serval core classes in our discipleship path:

180° Personal Discipleship (Mark Owens)

Experiencing God (Don Head)

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Alan Pollock)

Gospel Primer (Bill Sizemore)

Introduction

When I hear people who are far from God pray, they say things like:

“God, if you’re really there...”

“The Big Man upstairs”

“God, if you can hear me?”

God created the world to be inhabited by humanity but also with His presence and glory. His intention was never to be far from His people but to walk with them and commune with them in a loving relationship. Even after the creation of Adam and Eve, we find God coming in the cool of the day (the breath of the Spirit), speaking to Adam and drawing him out of hiding. He spoke directly to Cain, Able, Enoch, Noah and called out Abraham to be His people. And These are just in the first 12 chapters of Genesis.

History will tell us that God continued to speak to humanity in authentic ways and ultimately has spoken to us through his Son Jesus the Christ, God in the flesh.

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

So how did the Creator God become so foreign to His creation? At what point did the breath of His Spirit stop moving and we stop hearing and interacting with God. I would argue that the Spirit is still moving but we have become dull of hearing, seeing, and feeling the movement of God. Even now, I hear Christians, people that have called on the name of Jesus, say things like:

“God if you’re really there...”

“The Man upstairs”

“Something told me...”

“God, if you can hear me...”

God desires to be known by his people, yea even the whole world. He is not a far-off God but a close companion and friend. We seem to be blinded to His presence and oblivious of his interaction in our personal and corporate lives. The King of kings has invited us to sit at his table as sons and heirs to the kingdom, and we are wondering around saying, “God if you’re there.”

I would imagine that many of you here want this close relationship with God in which you hear, see, and feel the movement of His Spirit in your daily lives. That is why we have created this series, “God Is.” As we journey through the book of 1 John together, my prayer is that you will not only understand God in a new way but that you will begin a personal journey with Him.

The title of my message this morning is “God is Known.” We will be answering a couple of questions this morning:

How can I know an Eternal God?

What does it mean to know the Father, the Creator God?

How can I know an Eternal God?

There are two major mind shifts that we need to make in order to experience and know God in a personal way.

First Mind-shift: God is always with me.

If we were in Bible College we would say He is omnipresent: everywhere all the time.

He was present in the Spirit in the Old Testament

Psalm 139:1–12 ESV

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

He came in the flesh in the New Testament

1 John 1:1–2 ESV

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—

He indwells each Believer today

John 7:38–39 ESV

38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Second Mind-shift: Eternal life is knowing the Father not the forgiveness of sin.

John 17:3 ESV

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Christianity has made salvation impersonal transaction with God. “Jesus paid for my sin and I have believed and recieved his forgiveness.”

Playing fetch with Max

Jesus didn’t come to clean up your mess. Jesus came in the flesh to illustrate a relationship of knowing God.

What does it mean to know the Father?

1 John 1:3 ESV

3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

We know the Father through His Son Jesus Christ.

John 14:6–10 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Jesus removes the barrier of sin that separates us from God.

Jesus reveals the character and nature of the Father through his life.

Jesus seals the believer with the indwelling of His Spirit.

We know the Father through the Struggles of life.

There is a cost associated with knowing God that most people, even Christians are not willing to pay!

We know the Father through sacrifice.

Philippians 3:7–8 ESV

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

We know the Father through suffering.

Philippians 3:10 ESV

10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

1 John 1:4 KJV 1900

4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

“You will never experience the joy of your salvation without a real and personal fellowship with the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit.”